Friday’s “Ask Yahoo” question was, “What percentage of American children are homeschooled?”
The answer is about 2.2%, and the number is rising rapidly. But for some reason, Yahoo took a rather gratuitous swipe at the one area where homeschool kids are vulnerable to attack. Homeschool kids can’t be slammed for academic performance – test scores are routinely significantly higher than regular-school kids, both public and private. For added anecdotal evidence, just watch any national “bee” and note how homeschoolers are represented far in excess of their 2.2%. So I guess in order to achieve some “balance” a la the MSM, Yahoo included this comment:
While homeschooled kids have a reputation for being a bit socially awkward, their test scores are typically above average.
That’s an easy accusation and impossible to quantify – there’s no “socially awkward” scale by which to measure, but it seems clear to me that the person who wrote it has not spent much – if any – time with homeschooled kids. In my experience homeschooled kids are far more socially adept than school kids, because rather than being immersed in their peer group, they spend time with a variety of people.
I agree, “socially awkward” is a pretty subjective call. Each of my four children was homeschooled to some extent, then merged with the public school system. Their minor difficulties adjusting had little or nothing to do with being kept out of the system early on.
Unlike some Christian parents who want to incorporate prayer, Bible reading, etc. in school instructional time (which I’m not criticizing, btw), our primary concern was for us, the parents, to be the biggest influence on them in their early (and, I think, critically formative) years. You’re right, when peer influence is proportionally less, the child will function better and be less like someone “tossed back and forth by the waves” (Eph. 4:14) of popular opinion, trends and culture. Of our children, the one who has done the worst was the one who rebelled against our early influence and became like a wet finger in the wind.
It’s funny how so many different reasons can all lead to homeschooling. For us, it was sleep and academics, and the two were intertwined. She’s much better rested these days, and between that and the ability to back up the video or pause it to ask me a question (in school, she seldom asked questions in class because she didn’t want to slow the whole class down) her academics have improved considerably.
Speaking of reasons to homeschool: we teach our 7 year-old son at home for a number of reasons…
He’s precocious. School is tough enough for many, but it’s harder for those not in the middle of the academic curve. Too slow to learn? Too quick? You don’t fit in, so your needs are often overlooked.
We want him to be well-rounded. Public schools in America do a poor job of educating students on things like civics, history, philosophy, etc. Learning becomes a compartmentalized activity that kids avoid during non-school hours. We want our son to see that learning is done all day, every day…and that one area of learning overlaps another (like philosophy and history).
We do it better. Statistics show that homeschooled students do better regardless of the academic history of the parents. Why would we purposely allow him to spend most of his waking hours for most of his first 18 years in a substandard environment?
We’ve been there. My wife and I both taught in public school, and know from experience that many teachers are great, and many are lousy. Most teachers, in my experience working in a half-dozen school districts, aren’t all that good…and aren’t necessarily good role models. We give our kids to strangers for a year at a time without knowing anything about their beliefs or lifestyles. I’m not talking about homosexuality or condoms or the evolution/creation debate, either…I’m talking about putting kids into the hands of people you might avoid in any other situation.
There are a few things that our son isn’t experiencing that I did while in public school:
humiliation
bullying
being picked on for being smart
boredom
showering in a group
drugs and alcohol
performance anxiety
having to choose between equally-valuable electives
unfair comparisons with other students
stupid attendance rules
meaningless tests designed only for increasing school funding
exhaustion
hurtful comments about his clothes, hair, pencils, personality, music, backpack, jump shot, religion, parents, friends, voice, etc.
If that makes my son “socially awkward”, I think I can live with it.